Lazio – Benevento

By: cathal | August 22nd, 2008

Once again the new season is upon us and once again nobody knows quite what to expect. A fairly successful mercato has been met with a fairly unsuccessful pre-season and as Serie A looms, we face our first test in what is effectively, the third round of the Coppa Italia. The squad will be hoping to go a couple of steps further than last year and replicate this:

In all honesty, this should not be much of a test. Yes, it’s the Coppa Italia and yes, we should take it seriously but the opponent is one Benevento Calcio, a side from the Lega Pro Prima Divisione. Confused? Don’t be. I have done my homework and I have everything you need to know about them.

Let me start by pointing out that the Lega Pro Prima Divisione is the new title for what was once Serie C1 and Benevento are new to the league having been promoted last year from Serie C2/C. Now on that information alone, you can easily see why we shouldn’t be getting too worried. However, Benevento have already caused a mini-upset in the competition by defeating Treviso in the previous round (I know Treviso are hardly world-beaters, but they were a Serie A side 3 years ago). This result, coupled with the fact that Benevento are brimming with confidence after a successful promotion campaign, makes them a potential banana skin for us.

If we field our strongest side, there should be no issues. However, five of our men were on midweek international duty, so there are some weary legs in the team and unfortunately we haven’t a full squad to choose from either. Kolarov, Radu, Dabo, Firmani, Belleri and of course, Rocchi are all unavailable. It is thought Lichtsteiner will play at left back and De Silvestri, having returned from Olympic duty, will start at right back. Meghni will probably slot into the midfield while Pandev and Mauri are expected to play the support roles to Makinwa. Foggia and Zarate could well be introduced in the second half. The general belief is that we will attack Benevento and field an attacking side whatever the actual starting line-up may be. In Benevento’s team, keep an eye out for Felice Evacuo, some of you may remember him and kudos go to those of you who do; he played a few games for us back in the day, so to speak. Also keep an eye out for the captain, Imbriani. Expect him to be their strongest player.

Overall we should have more than enough quality for Benevento but as pundits tend to state all too often, there are no easy games in football and we shouldn’t take Benevento lightly. I’m just hoping the boy below can silence us critics by putting a few goals past them and as a result, put a big, fat smile on each of our faces. Forza Lazio!